--- title: "‘Let’s pray you’ll be okay’ – my escape from a backyard drug rehab" description: "South Africa plans to roll out treatment for opioid addiction to all government health facilities by 2028, according to a draft of the country’s sixth HIV action plan. Read one person’s story of recovery here." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "BHEKISISA CENTRE FOR HEALTH JOURNALISM" author: "Zano Kunene" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/zano-kunene/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-02-23-lets-pray-youll-be-okay-my-escape-from-a-backyard-drug-rehab/" published: "2023-02-23T20:11:27" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 496 --- # ‘Let’s pray you’ll be okay’ – my escape from a backyard drug rehab > South Africa plans to roll out treatment for opioid addiction to all government health facilities by 2028, according to a draft of the country’s sixth HIV action plan. Read one person’s story of recovery here. By Zano Kunene · Published 23 February 2023, 22:11 SAST ## Key points - Violet Maodi, a community health worker with the South African Network of People Who Use Drugs in Tshwane, Gauteng, has shared her story of recovery from drug dependence. After unwittingly using nyaope for several months in 2012, Maodi was hooked and unable to stop despite her love for her three children. With help from her parents and the doctor, she was able to access methadone as part of opioid substitution therapy (OST), which mimics the effects of opiates without getting people high. This therapy has helped to ease withdrawal symptoms and reduce HIV and hepatitis C infections among people who inject drugs. South Africa is planning on rolling out methadone to all government health facilities by 2028. Maodi is now six years sober and supports other recovering addicts on their journey to recovery. - Violet Maodi is a community health worker in Tshwane, Gauteng, who has recovered from drug dependence with the help of methadone. - Methadone mimics the effects of opiates such as nyaope, without getting people high. - Opioid substitution therapy (OST) helps ease withdrawal symptoms such as vomiting and dehydration, which can be life-threatening if people don’t get help. - South Africa’s HIV action plan includes plans to roll out methadone to all government health facilities by 2028. ## Content ‘I started using [nyaope](https://www.sadag.org/images/pdf/nyoape%20zcard.pdf) unwittingly in 2012. My partner was smoking it, but he wasn’t honest with me. He would roll a joint, but before closing it he would open a plastic bag and put the powder in the joint. “After maybe three or four months, I found out from his mother that he was smoking nyaope. But by that time, I was already hooked. “Each morning I would wake up with flu symptoms, which would disappear after I smoked. “I have three kids at home. When I needed a fix, there were weeks where I didn’t see them or even think about them. “One day my parents took me to a place in Tembisa. There were places where people were opening rehab \[[detoxification](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310652/)\] centres in their yard. They take recovering addicts like me and put us in a back room. --- **Visit [*Daily Maverick's* home page](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage) for more news, analysis and investigations** --- “I was so sick. My nose was blocked, I was vomiting yellow stuff and they gave us nothing \[to eat\]. “They only told us: ‘Let’s pray you will be okay.’ “On the third day, at about nine at night, I decided I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t take it anymore. I jumped over the wall and never went back. “Later, when I was high again, I thought about the kind of future my children could have with a mother who’s out in the streets, using drugs. Why wasn’t my love for them strong enough to stop? “I asked my mother to take me to the doctor, and I got a prescription for [methadone](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310658/). That was 2017. I haven’t smoked in six years. “Methadone helped with the cravings – so much that it completely blocked them out. I don't remember anything about smoking, I don’t feel like smoking, I don’t want it, I don’t like it, it does nothing for me.” **DM/MC** *– Violet Maodi is a community health worker with the*[*South African Network of People Who Use Drugs*](https://www.facebook.com/SANPUD1/)*in Tshwane, Gauteng. She spoke to*Bhekisisa’s*health reporter, Zano Kunene, about her recovery from drug dependence with the help of methadone. The drug mimics the effects of opiates such as nyaope, without getting people high. It’s given to users as part of*[*opioid substitution therapy (OST)*](http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/42848/9241591153_eng.pdf;jsessionid=D130F302EBC6134FCDF15BCC32B10D67?sequence=1)*to help ease withdrawal symptoms such as*[*vomiting and dehydration*](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526012/)*, which can be life-threatening if people don’t get help. OST is a proven way to cut*[*HIV*](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103872)*and*[*hepatitis C infections*](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012021.pub2/abstract;jsessionid=9047C3B18EECA73308433E9AF2714447.f04t04)*among people who inject drugs, in part because they are less likely to share needles to get their fix. This is why it’s part of South Africa’s HIV action plan. A*[*draft*](https://nsp.sanac.org.za/uploads/files/NSPn-for-HIV-TB-STIs-2023-2028-Draft3C.pdf)*of the country’s latest strategy on HIV details plans to roll out methadone to all government health facilities by 2028. At the moment, the health department only buys this medicine for*[*hospitals*](https://www.sapc.za.org/Media/Default/Documents/STG%20hospital%20level%20adult%202019_v2.0.pdf)*.* *This story was produced by the*[*Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism*](http://bhekisisa.org./)*. Sign up for the*[*newsletter*](http://bit.ly/BhekisisaSubscribe)*.* ![Image](https://syndicate.app/st.php)